The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II
by hilandncr
Summary: Eleventh Annual Sam/Jack Ship Day Ten Drabbles in Ten Days Challenge Collection! Contributors: neverendingimagination; XFchemist; fems; hlndncr; Ikorni; Amara D'Angeli; trinity3; Lt. Colonel John Sheppard; Sparky She-Demon; Major Ryan; majorsal; Cairistiona; roque872002; SaraBahama; brendini; Nolamom; JodyTAZ; picardythirds; Scofield; A. Karswyll; IamDKScully; Starship Trooper
1. Chapter 1

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II**

**Contributors: neverendingimagination; XFchemist; fems; hlndncr; Ikorni; Amara D'Angeli; trinity3; Lt. Colonel John Sheppard; Sparky She-Demon; Major Ryan; majorsal; Cairistiona; roque872002; SaraBahama; brendini; Nolamom; JodyTAZ; picardythirds; Scofield; A. Karswyll; IamDKScully; Starship Trooper**

Due to the outrageous success of the previous volume of this anthology, the shippers of the GateWorld Sam Carter/Jack O'Neill Appreciation Thread present this second volume of shippy drabbles for your enjoyment. This series of drabbles, all approximately 100 words, were written in celebration of the Eleventh Annual Sam/Jack Ship Day – July 28, 2013. We would also like to acknowledge the wonderful artistic contributions of **Nolamom, Samantha-Carter-is-my-muse**, and **Major Ryan** but you'll have to visit the GateWorld Forum to enjoy those. Be sure to say hello while you're there!

Sam & Jack Always!

**Prompt # 1: Have a Little Faith**

**By neverendingimagination**

She had faith she would find a way to get her Colonel back. He disappeared before her eyes in a flash of blue and purple. She pushed her team and fought tooth and nail to keep them working.

She had faith she would find out where he was. Scans revealed nothing on the planet's surface but she knew he was out there somewhere, waiting for her, depending on her to get him home.

He had faith she would find him and bring him back where he belonged - by her side, his faithful 2IC.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

In the past decade she had been repeatedly shot. She had died and been brought back to life. An alien parasite had changed forever her body chemistry. An energy being had taken control of her mind. She had been mind raped.

Maybe her body had suffered too much damage.

For months Jack had kept telling her to have faith but her hopes were gradually fading away.

She felt Jack squeezing her hand. She slowly opened her eyes to look down at the white stick that was lying on the bed next to them. Two blue lines. They finally got their miracle.

o-O-o

**By fems**

It had been five years since his first invitation and they were finally at his cabin.

They both knew it was time to talk.

The wooden deck creaked when Jack came to stand next to her.

"Now what?" Sam asked.

"We give it a go."

Sam's eyes widened when he put a small box on the balustrade. "Jack?"

"Just want you to know it's on the table."

"But we'll be in different states and don't even know if–"

"I know."

"How?"

His smile was warm and loving as he slipped his hand in hers. "Have a little faith, Carter."

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

SG-1 came barreling through the gate. The iris smacked closed as a giant concussive force shook the barrier. The wormhole winked out.

Daniel turned to look up the ramp at his military teammates, "How did you know that would work?"

The two officers smiled at one another. "We didn't."

They walked down the ramp shoulders brushing. Jack tapped Daniel on the arm as he passed, "Have a little faith, Daniel."

Daniel stood agape.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow.

It had been another miraculous escape for the team – saved by one of Jack's half-baked ideas, Sam's scientific brilliance, and sheer dumb luck.

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

"In a minute, Sir."

"Hey, no rush."

For once, Jack doesn't mind the wait. Especially since her six is up...in a way that he just knows isn't quite accidental.

Then Carter shifts and-

_Oh lord…_

His ears prick at the sudden sound. Is that a ditty that she's softly humming? The one that had him blushing all through his childhood and his teenage years?

The humming stops. Without missing a beat, Carter climbs out with a smile bright enough to power them home.

"Have a little faith, Sir. It's fixed."

Damn.

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

"No, Sir."

"What do you mean, 'No, Sir'?"

"I mean exactly what I said."

"Aww, c'mon, Carter."

"That was a pretty emphatic 'No, Sir', wouldn't you say, Sir?"

"But… it's a party!"

"And yet there's not enough liquor in the place."

"It could practically be our song!"

"_Our_ song?!"

"Yeah. SG-1 should have a song. I mean, we should probably have a theme song. But until the brass gets behind that idea I think we're stuck with this."

"Ah."

"So. Whaddaya say?"

"No, Sir."

"I shall do it, O'Neill."

"Now that's what I call taking one for the team, Sir."

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

Jack refused to consider the odds.  
They'd always beaten those stacked against them  
They would again.  
He just had to find a way.  
To make a way.

Jack banged the control, then the force shield between them.  
But the odds seemed to be winning.  
Sam begged him to leave her behind but doing so meant that he'd given up on her, on them.  
Screaming his refusal Jack stared at Sam.  
He wouldn't leave.

Hearing footsteps of the enemy marching toward them  
Jack willed the heart in his chest and the one that had captured his, to have a little faith.

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

Jack O'Neill was never one for having faith.

He never had faith after his son Charlie died.

He never had faith when he and Sara got divorced.

He never had faith after his best friend Charles Kawalsky was taken over by a goa'uld and was killed by Teal'c.

His faith returned a little bit when he met Skaara but then that faith was taken from him when Skaara and the Abydonians were killed.

But for as long as he lived he had to have a some faith to know that the blonde Lieutenant Colonel / Doctor astrophysicist would say yes to his proposal.

He just had to have a little faith.

o-O-o

**By Sparky She-Demon**

It was all that was keeping her together  
He had been captured  
And she was working herself ragged to get him home  
To tell him the news  
He was getting a second chance

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

Sam thought Teal'c looked like a kid in a candy store. Well, technically, waiting in line for cotton candy was pretty much exactly that. He was definitely the biggest kid Sam had ever seen. He had a look of absolute wonder on his face as he watched the sugar spin into glossy strands, like gossamer. He'd probably never look at a spider's web the same way again.

Her gaze drifted upwards and she squinted into the clear blue sky. It was a gorgeous day for a fair. She knew she should be enjoying it, but she just couldn't shake the heaviness she could feel in her chest. All the activity around her seemed trivial as she thought about what they had to overcome – the danger they were facing. These people couldn't imagine the kind of terror that could come sweeping out of that beautiful sky. It chilled her to the core.

Someone was tugging on the sleeve of her coat. She dropped her eyes and was immediately enveloped in Cassie's beaming smile. She grinned back.

"We _HAVE _to go on the big one!"

"Do we?"

"Some of my friends are here. They'll think I'm chicken if I don't go!"

"Yes, Carter, you don't want them to think she's yellow do you?" The Colonel stood right behind Cassie, hands in pockets, cap pulled on backwards. He caught her gaze and held it. His expression was inscrutable. One corner of his mouth was curved up in a mischievous grin, but his eyes were soft and searching. Sam felt exposed, like he knew exactly what she'd been thinking.

"PLLLEEEAAAASSSEE!" Cassie bounced around. Sam looked from her to the Colonel and then headed for the rollercoaster line. They both followed closely.

"Is 'adrenaline-junkie' Carter scared of rollercoasters?" She'd been kicking little rocks around in the dirt for the last ten minutes as they waited for their turn. He was definitely picking up on her weird energy.

"I just don't like them, Sir. I know how many G's that thing pulls and the whole thing gets taken apart and put back together every week. I look at them and I see all the potential… _problems_."

"I get it. But the math is with us on this one. And you know all about that, Carter." He paused, and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Don't lose sight of the good stuff."

Finally, they climbed into their seats. Sam sat in front with Cassie. The Colonel sat by himself just behind them. As they hit the top of the rise, she felt his hand squeeze her shoulder.

"Have a little faith Sam."

Sam knew he wasn't talking about the rollercoaster. Probably never had been. She smiled, closed her eyes, and reached for the sky.

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

It would be a suit and tie affair  
It would be an uncomfortable feeling  
The brass would all be there  
The vows would be said  
A shaky "I do"  
A kiss and she'll be mine  
She'll take my hand  
She'll squeeze it tight  
I'll flash a small smile  
I'll give Daniel and Teal'c a wink  
We'll enjoy our wedding day  
We'll enjoy our wedding night  
But will there be the most important thing of all?  
She stops and turns to me, knowing what I'm about to ask her  
"Jack, have a little faith"  
"Oh yes, there will certainly be cake."

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

Sam knew she was bad at this.

But a molehill had become Mount Everest, because of her fear.

She wanted to believe she'd settle this on her own.

She wanted to believe she'd find the courage to end it. Or begin it.

So she waited. Just waited. In limbo.

She was good at limbo.

And as the weeks grew closer to the hour of her cowardice...

Sam drew herself up from the couch reluctantly, to answer the persistent knocking.

Jack stood smiling. "Carter."

"Sir?"

He handed her a paper. She opened it and read it. Then re-read it and frowned.

"You're retiring?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

Jack leaned forward, taking her face in his hands and kissing her gently. When he pulled back, Sam merely blinked.

"Why?... "

"I might be a little slow on the up-take, Carter, but have a little faith."

Sam's mega-watt smile was her reply.

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

To call Sam impacient was a bit of an understatement. She would have paced restlessly around the house if her foot would have allowed it. But if it wasn't for her foot she wouldn't be here but in Atlantis.

Finally she heard the front door open and Jack came in, ladden with grocery bags.

"Did you get everything?" Sam asked, well, impatiently.

"Yes, I got everything, your list was quite accurate. But have a little faith in me, I know your favorite brand of Jello."

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

Jack had no idea how many times he had been in the position he was currently in. He didn't want to think about it. He knew he couldn't count it on his fingers and toes. Or on the fingers and toes of the rest of his three team members.

He dug the heels of his hands into his eyes as he sighed and paced the corridor outside of the operating room.

He knew his two friends were there too. He could sense them more than he could hear them.

"She's going to be fine Jack. Just have a little faith."

o-O-o

**By SaraBahama**

She trembled against his side in the dark room.

He traced patterns soothingly on her back, waiting for her to tell him what was wrong…she always did, eventually.

"Jack…?"

"Mmm…?"

"W-What if…" she sighed in frustration.

He shifted her closer against him and pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder. Warm skin, cool sheets…it just felt complete to him, like coming home.

"…what if we don't…if we can't…make this work?"

"Carter," he replied gently, "this…us…won't be easy, but I'm here…I'm not leaving, and I'm sure as hell not letting you go. Have a little faith."

She smiled into his kiss.

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Sam gave a narrow eyed look at the innocent looking object sitting in her workspace. Innocent like a hidden landmine. The problem, she decided, was not that Jack had little faith in her abilities but that he had too much faith.

She picked up the flat-bladed tool and hesitated. The task before her was… it was beyond flying an asteroid through the Earth. Beyond blowing up a sun. What if she ruined it? What if she—

"Sam?"

She looked up to see Jack giving her a puzzled look from the kitchen doorway.

"You done icing Gracie's birthday cake yet?"

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

"I can do this."

"I didn't say you couldn't, I just asked if you wanted some help!"

"No, give me the instructions! Really, Sam, the instructions!?"

"I thought you might need a little…guidance is all."

He reached up to rub her swollen belly and gave it a quick kiss before turning his attention back to the task at hand. "I got this, really. Can you just have a little faith?"

"Yes, Sir," she answered with a grin.

_"What is it with men and directions?"_ she thought.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

"Jack, we will never find Sam." I'm not feeling good when I'm saying these words, but it's the truth.

"We will, we have to and the only way of ever finding her again is to..."

"Not a good ideea. If what you were going to say was we have to talk with Ba'al. Jack, you are the one who wouldn't trust a Goa'uld in a billion years."

"It's the only way Daniel. I have to try."

"But he said that the deal is for you to surrender and allow yourself to be captured by him, and he will return Sam. You have to know that he won't do it."

"Oh, I know. And because I know, I will be prepared. Just have a little faith Daniel. It's Carter we're talking about here. You know how I was the me without Sara; I don't think you want know the me without Sam."

"You're right. I don't. But I also don't want to know the you being dead."

"I appreciate your concern, Daniel, but I must tell you again - have a little faith."

o-O-o

**By JodyTAZ**

_(For Polrobin)_

"You know Colonel, you can blow up a sun, devise a naquada generator, create a weapon to defeat the Super Soliders…" Jack stated.

"Yes, I know General, but this may be way out of our league; I don't know if either one of us could even figure this out…" Sam said as she was standing in her lab looking at the large box in front of them.

"I think we should take it out of the box, go get Carter from the infirmary and head home. I mean really now, how difficult could an infant car seat be? We just need a little faith…" Jack replied.

"Yeah, you're right, Finn and Jan are waiting to meet their new brother. Let's go. " Sam said as she started to open the box.

Jack just smiled at his wife.


	2. Chapter 2

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 2: Busted**

**By roque872002**

Jack walked into Sam's lab with a sundae glass of blue Jello. He hadn't known her long, but he knew she liked blue Jello.

It had been a hell of a mission and he knew they all needed a little pick me up. He knew the Jello would make her feel better.

As he walked further into her lab he noticed she wasn't there. He shrugged and decided to wait. He set the glass on the workbench and managed to send something flying to the floor. It smashed at his feet.

Suddenly she was behind him.

He was so busted.

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

"What are you doing down here at your computer in the middle of the night?" Jack asked, yawning.

"I couldn't sleep and wanted to go over some calculations. I thought you were fast asleep and didn't notice." Sam answered.

"But you told me that you still couldn't walk on your broken foot."

Sam blushed slightly, "Maybe I just like being carried by you?!"

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

Jack O'Neill woke up with a swift kick to his head. He knew that the kick came from his unborn baby girl inside of her mother's stomach. He knew that if the kid could kick like that when she's in her mother's womb, she was going to be great at sports. As he settled down in the comfort of his wife's arms, he started to whisper to his baby girl.

"You know kid, it's not nice to kick your old man when he's trying to sleep or your mom as well. But you know something kid, if your anything like your mother, then you are definitely going to be a handful but you know what, you'll probably have me wrapped around your little finger like you already do. So try to get some sleep. I love you baby girl. Good night."

As Jack was about to fall asleep he heard this whisper, "You are so whipped, Jack O'Neill."

He knew he was Busted.

o-O-o

**By fems**

They'd gotten married relatively soon in their relationship and kept it mostly to themselves because they were private people and didn't want any rumors about their previous working relationship. However, that also meant they had to behave professionally while on duty the few times Jack visited the SGC…

"Jack!"

He smirked and pulled her into his arms despite her protest. "C'mere."

Dropping her gear, Sam kissed him back. "Missed you."

The door to the locker room opened and Mitchell yelped a surprised, "Sam… General O'Neill!"

Jack had been nuzzling her hair and froze, Sam burst out in giggles. "Oops, busted."

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

He hadn't believed her when she told him an invisible alien followed her home.

She accused him of spying on her; he called her nuts and ran away.

He told her to take it easy and get a life.

When it looked like she had, he fought to hide his irrational jealousy.

He tried so hard to keep her close, but not too close.

They had stopped trusting each other and it nearly cost her life.

And anything they once shared lay in pieces in her basement at the foot of a homemade stargate.

It was busted. But he was going to fix it.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

Noises coming from downstairs woke Jack up. He stretched out his arm toward the right side of the bed to find it cold and empty. He got up to check what Sam was up to.

Following the sounds led him to the kitchen.

He entered into the room and was welcomed by the sight of his very pregnant wife holding a spoon and surrounded by various ice cream boxes.

"Sam, why are you eating ice cream at 2 am?" Jack asked with a calm tone.

A guilty look appeared on her face. She smiled sweetly and replied "Bump was hungry?"

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

It was the middle of the night. Sam awoke to a flurry of hushed whispers outside her room. Soft footsteps padded along the hallway. Rolling over, she confirmed that Jack too was awake and listening intently. They crept in unison from the room, their training flooding back, and followed the mystery footsteps downstairs.

Voices floated from the kitchen along with muffled moans. A loud crash sounded from inside. Jack and Sam hurried to the doorway to confront their little intruders with stern looks – well Sam anyway. Jack just grinned at his munchkins feigned complete innocence beside the smashed cookie jar.

o-O-o

**By Sparky She-Demon**

One of the definitions of busted was to get caught  
And boy had they been caught  
By one of the worst people  
They'd been busted  
By her dad.

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

"I'm picking the movie," he announces as soon as the last dish is done.

"Suit yourself."

The minutes pass without a sound, which is an impossibility given that there's never a quiet moment when Jack's around. And that worries her.

She walks into the living room to see him holding up a huge boxset that's got a family with bright yellow faces on it.

Okay, so maybe it was a bad idea to have said that she didn't enjoy the series so much. At least not enough to buy the entire collection.

"Is there something you wanna tell me, Carter?"

o-O-o

**By brendini**

He'd started planning this two loops ago. He wasn't sure it was the right thing to do, but he couldn't stop thinking about it.

He handed his typed resignation to General Hammond in the control room, and walked over to Carter. Framing her face with his hands, he pulled her closer, until there was no space between them. Finally, their lips met, and he found himself dipping her like an old romantic movie scene. She resisted at first, and then relented, even responded to his touch.

After several minutes, it occurred to Jack that the loop should have restarted already. He reluctantly moved to release Carter from his grasp, and pulled away.

Jack looked at his watch and realized that something must have changed, because it was already past the time for the new loop.

"Colonel, what the hell are you thinking?" General Hammond asked.

"D'oh! Busted!"

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

"It's…well…it's…"

"Spit it out, Carter."

"Well, Sir, it's…busted."

"Busted?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Is that the _scientific_ term, Major?"

"Um…well…"

"Geez, Jack, it's not like _she_ broke it."

"Your point, Daniel?"

"You're being an ass."

"Carter?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Am I being an ass?"

"Oh, like she'd actually –"

"Yes, Sir."

"What?!" Daniel spluttered.

"Excuse me?" Jack's eyebrows climbed towards his hairline.

"Busted is the scientific term, Sir."

Daniel couldn't help but chuckle.

Jack just sighed. "Okay, break it down for me, Carter."

"The DHD is usually one big…piece. Now it's several. It's busted, Sir."

Daniel outright guffawed.

"Right. It's busted."

"Yes, Sir."

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

"Colonel."

Sam's tone wasn't insubordinate. It just emphasized that anything less than the truth was not an option anymore.

Crazy that the life and death situation had come down to this, exposing something that he'd worked so long and hard to hide. In spite of his best efforts Jack recognized that he was so busted.

Realizing that his hiding place was no longer safe, Jack spoke up, being as honest with himself as he was with the interrogator. Finally ending his confession with . . .

"Because I care about her. . . A lot more than I'm supposed to."

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

In the murky deep I descend upon prey  
No light to guide me from the summer's day  
I hear muffled musings of the couple above  
They're together at last and very in love  
The smell is pungent and I see lunch near  
It looks so tempting, better than their beer  
I move to attack and stop just in time  
To see the shimmer of a fishing line  
There are no fish in my pond, I hear him say  
I need to eat at least something today  
The meal, my hunger just won't wait  
What the heck, I'm taking that bait

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

"Jack, what are you reading?"

Jack jerked his head up. Sam was leaning over their sofa and peering at his book. Crap. He was so busted. As nonchalant as possible he closed the book, cover down. He coughed to clear his throat, "Nothing."

"If it's nothing," she teased, "why are hiding it from me?"

"I'm not, you just, surprised me. Didn't hear you come in."

"Jack."

He felt his face get warm. "Okay, okay." He turned the book over, showing the cover. "_Wormhole X-treme!: Conquering Divide_" and "_Based on the hit television series developed by Martin Lloyd_" was proudly proclaimed.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

"C'mon Daniel."

"No, Sam."

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?" She batted her eyes at him and pouted.

"Really? Did you really think that would work? That just like that you could bend me to your will?"

"You'd be surprised what I can get away with using just my lips and my baby blues."

"Really, Carter…do tell."

"D'oh."

Busted.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

"Hello, what are you doing here, Jack?"

"Me? Nothin'."

"What do you have there beside you?"

"Why would you suggest there's something here? Huh...silly."

"Silly? I don't know why should I think is something there...maybe because I see it? With all do respect Sir, what's wrong with you?"

"I'm just..."

"Don't care anymore, I'm coming in!"

"WAIT! Stop!"

"Why?"

"The truth is, Carter, I..."

"I... what?"

"I ate all the Jello and I have here all the empty boxes."

"Well, I was going to say that you are busted, but then I realized that I kind of erased your Simpson tapes out by mistake; so let's pretend nothing happened, OK?"

"OK."

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

"Carter?"

"Hmmm..?" She dragged her eyes up from the device which she was balancing precariously in one hand, multi-meter in the other. For once in Sam's life, she wished the Colonel wasn't so fond of frequenting her lab. She could tell by the tone of his voice that he wanted something, and she could tell by the way he was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet that it wasn't even something serious. He was bored, and she just didn't have the patience for it today.

She threw him a look that would slice a lesser man asunder. "Do you _need _something, Sir?"

It was her best shot but he didn't even flinch. "May I use your computer?"

"Don't you have your own, Sir?" She smiled sweetly. "In your _own _office?"

"That would mean I'd have to go to my office, and your computer's right over there, Carter."

Oh why did he have to be so obtuse? "Go ahead, Sir." She refocused on the task at hand.

"Hey Carter, it's locked, what's your password?"

"Fishing."

It was out of her mouth before she'd even thought about it.

She dropped the device, fumbled awkwardly, and raised her eyes slowly to meet his gaze, trying very hard not to grimace.

He quirked an eyebrow. She was definitely busted.

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

Sam is bending over. Way over.

Holy Mother of ...

Daniel snorted. "Are you staring at Sam's butt, Jack?"

"What!? No! Of course not."

Sam gives up bending. And squats instead.

Jack choked.

Daniel cleared his throat. "Uh, Sam... "

"Yes, Daniel?"

"Remember when you said you bought a thong?"

Sam jumped up quickly, hastily pulling up her pants and pulling down her shirt.

Jack averted his eyes.

Sam blushed.

Daniel leaned back against the tree, threading his fingers behind his head. "Bus-ted."


	3. Chapter 3

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 3: To Oz**

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

"So General… where's SG-1 going next?" Jack asked as he wanted to get back into the mission rotation.

"Jack, I'm glad you asked that. Apparently POZ-1939 has some animal life that is similar to that found here on earth." Hammond said.

"What are we talking about here, Sir? Dogs? Because you know General, dogs are some of my favorite people."

"Not Exactly, Colonel. These animals are similar to lions and monkeys. But the kicker is that a path leading from the gate is made of yellow bricks. "

"Oh, Please don't tell me…"

"That's right Jack. You're going to Oz."

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

"Again? Seriously?"

"It's a great movie!" he protested.

"No, it's really not!" she crossed her arms over her chest as she sat back in her chair.

"It's my turn to pick the movie. And I pick this one!" he waved the box in front of her face.

"We watched that the last time you picked a movie!"

"What's your point?"

"Pick another one? Please?"

"Alright, fine," he huffed as he began searching for another.

"This one!" he cried as he pulled another box from the shelf.

"No!" she whined.

"Hey, it's The Simpson's or this."

"Fine. To Oz," Sam sighed.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

Jack wrapped his arms around his lovely wife. He kissed the top of her head and gently rubbed her large belly, looking at the nursery now complete.

Along the light purple walls were violet stencils of Dorothy, Toto, the Tin Man, the Lion and the Scarecrow.

A yellow brick road on the floor led to a wooden white crib. On the wall behind it a rainbow and "There's no place like home" were painted.

A pair of ruby baby booties rested on the chest of drawer.

He could hardly wait to introduce their little girl to the magic of Oz.

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Jack looked around at his handiwork. A yellow brick road ran in a winding path through the garden. Straw bales were piled on either side, before it made its way past the playhouse, through the trees and out into a mass of poppies. It finished at his shiny new greenhouse.

"Dorothy! Munchkins! Party time!"

A group of excited children ran outside with Sam the good witch, to great Jack the scarecrow, Daniel the lion and Teal'c the tin man.

Grace looked adorable with her blue pinafore dress and pigtails.

"Toto!"

The new puppy bounded outside.

Sam glared at Jack, he simply grinned.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

Teal'c: "O'Neill, I wish that one day, my people will be free."

Jack: "No sweat. Next."

Daniel: "Jack, I wish all people had a conscience."

Jack: "Not so easy, but we'll see. Anyone else?"

Sam: "I wish that the rule which forbids us to be together never existed."

Jack: "Interesting. My turn now: I wish that I wouldn't have ever reentered active duty while still being in this program and with this team, so that I could have kissed you from the first time you entered that door and challenged me at an arm wrestle."

Oz: "Kinda choosey. I'll see what I can do."

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

"This isn't how it was supposed to be."

"I know."

"You don't have to sound so conciliatory. Not when we're talking through the bottom of a pint glass."

"What do you want me to say, Jack?"

"I want you to call me Sir, for starters."

"It doesn't exactly apply anymore, does it?"

"Damn, how did we get here?"

"Metaphorically, the restaurant, or half-drunk?"

"You choose."

"You know what? Sometimes bad things happen."

"Sometimes you just catch a glimpse of the man behind the curtain?"

She shrugs. "There is an upshot here."

He raises his glass, half grins. "Then, to Oz!"

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

Daniel: Sam, do you like the Wizard of Oz?

Sam: Yeah.

Daniel: Do you like it, Jack?

Jack: Yep.

Daniel: Teal'c?

Teal'c: Dorothy vanquished the Go'auld well.

Jack: It was a witch, T, not a Goauld.

Teal'c: Same thing.

Sam: _*laughing*_ Why are you asking, Daniel?

Jack: Dorothy is kind of hot . . .

Sam: . . .

Jack: To Oz!

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

She wakes with the taste of dried salt on her lips and the inerasable smell of him on her skin. In the aftermath of destruction, the only constant is Jack, the man who understands the meaning of dying over and over again, whose bruises match hers. Above all, he understands what pain is.

That shared knowledge, when taken too far, helps turns him into a friend, then into a lover.

"What now?"

In a rare moment, he's asking her to take the lead, allowing a rare vulnerability to show.

It's a precious moment she knows she'll never forget. "To Oz."

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

The blast from the weapon had hit so fast, that despite her best efforts, Sam couldn't avoid the danger. A million flashes filtered through her subconscious, her family and her friends. Tears began to pool against her fading eyes as his apparition appeared. His voice was soft and calming as he gently placed his hand in hers.

Her breathing became shallower.

"You know we never did get that honeymoon, even after all these years."

Jack leaned in to kiss her forehead and whispered the very last words she'd ever hear.

"Time to go to Oz, Love. I'll see you soon."

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

"Ok, you can have someone bring your computer or laptop or whatever you call these things," Jack said. Anything to keep her brain occupied and happy while she was supposed to keep her foot still. "But wait, please none of your doohickeys."

"Why not?" Sam wondered.

"You can do whatever you want in the SGC or in Atlantis", said Jack, remembering the Stargate she once built in her basement, "but I'm not sure if I like direct access to Oz in my house!"

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

Sam was in awe of the gleaming towers of the Ancient city. She had been here before but now it would be her home, and her responsibility. Standing on a private balcony her gaze swept the horizon.

Streaks of sunlight radiating off the silver spires dancing with shimmer and shadow from the waters below gave the city an almost emerald hue.

She returned to her unpacking. Her fingers caught on something she did not remember adding, a picture of them fishing with a note that read:

"There's no place like home. Love, Jack."

For her office she decided with a satisfied smile.

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

Jack wanted to spend his birthday quietly; felt way past the days of making a fuss over it.

Sam had acquiesced.

No fancy presents.

No party.

No fuss.

Surviving the Air Force, aliens, Kinsey; and having Samantha Carter as his wife were gifts enough. No challenging these odds.

Returning home from his evening run he found a yellow box sitting on their bed.

Opening it, the General laughed out loud. Inside were three pairs of briefs each with Wizard of Oz characters standing on a curiously positioned yellow brick road.

Sam's handwritten card read 'Take me to Oz baby.'

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

"'. . . and they all followed him through the portal into the streets of the Emerald City.'" Jack read aloud the chapter ending and looked down at the little girl that slept against him.

He closed the children's book, took off his reading glasses, and set both aside. With gentle hands he laid her into her bed, folded up the pink and purple covers around her, and tucked her 'Toto' in with her.

He pressed a goodnight kiss on her forehead and when he straightened up he saw Sam at their daughter's bedroom door, watching with a soft smile curving her lips.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

She curled up on the couch next to him savoring the moment. His feet were on the coffee table, a bowl of popcorn in his lap. She smiled up at him resting her head on his shoulder and reveling in the warmth of his arm wrapped around her.

"Ready?" he asked practically drowning her with his chocolaty gaze.

"To Oz," she whispered breathlessly as the adventure began.

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

Sam wondered for the hundredth time how she'd managed to let Daniel and Teal'c talk her into letting them have a Halloween party in her house. She sat on the front steps, nursing a whiskey sour. Daniel had put something in it that was disconcertingly green, and more than a little off-putting. She put the cup down and glared at it.

She heard the door open and close. Music spilled out momentarily and suddenly there were a pair of legs hovering by her shoulder. She didn't look up, but glanced across at the shoes attached to the legs. Standard military issue. But was that . . . s_traw_? . . . What the . . .?

She looked up then. The floppy hat hid most of his face. He grinned at her. Or was that a grimace?

"Hi, Sir!" She beamed. "Having fun?"

"Yeahsureyoubetcha"

_Definitely _a grimace. He made no attempt to move.

"Sir, why don't you sit? You're giving me a crick-in-the-neck."

"Actually, I'd rather you stand Carter." He offered her his hand.

Now she was confused, but she accepted his hand and he hauled her to her feet. She straightened her dress and threw him a questioning look. "Sir?"

"I was hoping we could get the hell out of Dodge."

"Wrong movie, Sir." She smiled, watching his eyes follow her outfit all the way down to the shoes. Red ones.

"Ah. Dorothy, eh?"

"And you must be . . .?"

"Funny Carter."

"Your car or mine, Sir?"

"Yours. I can't picture Dorothy and Scarecrow riding around in a shiny black truck."

"But a classic Volvo is better?"

"Yeah, well, your house looks kinda . . . _occupied_, and I don't believe any twisters were forecast for this evening."

Sam ducked her head and tried so hard not to laugh. "Let's go."

"Don't you need to go get your keys?" He looked puzzled. She fished her keys out of the little pocket in her dress. His eyes widened in surprise. "You've been planning your getaway all along!"  
**  
**"We going or what?" She tilted her head defiantly and smirked at him. She could see his jaw tighten, but he had that glint in his eye. She turned on her heal and he followed her silently across the street to where the car was parked. They climbed in.

Suddenly, Sam felt very uncertain. "Should we invite the rest of the gang, Sir?"

"Nah, I think Dorothy and Scarecrow should fly solo on this one. And lose the 'Sir', Dorothy." His tone was flippant. She regarded him minutely and caught his eye. Not a hint of a grimace on his face now, and she smiled to match his.

"Where to then?"

"To Oz!" He crowed.

o-O-o

**By fems**

Jack waited until Mitchell ran off in shock before turning to his lovely wife. "No giggling, Carter."

Sam's face was turned into his neck and her reply was muffled. "Sorry… I told you this was a bad idea."

"What, because of Mitchell? Pshaw!" He shrugged it off and released her. "You were going to have to tell him eventually."

She smiled and finished gearing up. "I guess so. When I get back I'll spend the weekend in DC with you."

Grinning at the prospect, Jack pulled her in a for a quick kiss. "Okay, off to Oz you go, Dorothy!"


	4. Chapter 4

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 4: It's Complicated**

**By fems**

It had taken Cam a full week to muster up enough courage to corner Sam after catching her and General O'Neill red-handed. "Hey Sam, got a minute?"

"Sure."

He waited until she gave him her full attention. "So, um, I was wondering about something."

"What is it, Cam?"

"Last week when General O'Neill was here . . . and you two . . . you know, in the gear-up room," he stammered nervously. "I mean, I'd heard rumors but I didn't think you would . . . Not that I'm saying you are! But . . . I guess it's complicated, eh?"

Instead of upset, Sam seemed amused. "We're married, Cam."

"Oh."

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

"Uh, it's-"

"-complicated."

"Right."

"It's not what you think, Dad."

"If by that you mean just having seen you and Jack in a position that I really shouldn't even be-"

"Dad!"

"You know what, Jacob? It's _exactly_ what you think it is."

" Excuse me?"

"Well, technically, we wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't ordered us to sit down and drink that funky Tok'ra . . . thing and watch that . . . that funny dance!"

"So you're saying it's indirectly my fault for getting the both of you to stop behaving like squabbling kids?"

"What do you think, _Dad_?"

"No! We never said that! Sir!"

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

"Damn it! It's too complicated."

Jack looked at Sam, who was clearly on the verge of tears.

"You don't necessarily have to do it." He replied aware of her current fragile emotional state.

"I know. It's just that my mom made a baby quilt for me. I wanted to do the same for our baby, to show her how much she means to me, but I can't! What kind of mother am I going to be?"

He gathered her in his arms and told her "Sam, you will be a great mom. Believe me. You just have to be YOU."

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

"It's not that complicated"

"It so is."

"Says the woman who blew up a sun, commanded Atlantis for a year and is now in command of one of Earth's most powerful battle cruisers."

"And how many times have you done this?"

"Oh you know . . . just that one time."

"Alright General O'Neill, what do you think of this now?"

"I think it needs more peridot."

"I told you it's not going to be green."

"And like I told you, do you really think the kid is going to care what color it is."

"Not peridot."

"Fine. It's complicated. You happy now?"

"Yes."

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

"Hey Sam, how was your week . . ._off_? Whoa. What happened to you?" Daniel laughed as he looked up to see his sunburnt friend standing in his office doorway.

"I got burnt while reading a book outside," she shrugged, her voice soft and full of embarrassment as she gazed around the room.

"But we've had rain here all week," he said slowly.

"I know," she said, a tight smile on her face. "It's complicated," she sighed.

"Daniel," Jack smiled as he walked into the room, his skin darker than the week before.

"You went to the cabin with Jack, didn't you?"

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

"I'm dead?"

No one's going to answer me, Sam thought, because they can't see me. I'm dead!

Sam roamed the halls of the SGC, visiting departments and co-workers and friends. It was fun for about 5 minutes.

Then she visited General O'Neill. Jack.

He was hunched over his desk, with his head in his hands. A drawn-up retirement paper was already signed.

"You weren't supposed to leave me," Jack whispered.

'I'm right here, Jack."

Jack's head shot up. "Sam?"

Oh my god, he can hear me!

"Jack, I'm right beside you!"

"How is that possible!" Jack said, looking around frantically to see her.

"Uh, it's complicated."

"What does that mean?"

"I have no idea!"

"Alright. Let me think." Jack stood up to pace. "We lost you in the stargate."

"How?"

"You smashed into the iris."

"Ow."

"Yeah."

"But I'm not really dead, or you couldn't be hearing me."

"Unless I'm insane."

"There's that . . . or your pattern is stuck in the whatever, and you're just free-floating along, waiting for someone to re-pattern you."

"I think that's it!"

"Then what do we do?"

"Get McKay and Dr. Lee and we'll explain everything. Or you will, because no one else can hear me but you."

"If this doesn't work out . . ."

"It has to."

"But if it doesn't . . . will you still haunt me?"

"_Haunt_ you?"

"Will you stay with me?"

"Always . . . _always_."

"Well I did kind of want to kiss you, so I'm calling McKay and Lee for help."

Sam giggled, while Jack picked up the phone.

o-O-o

**By Amara D****'****Angeli**

"It's complicated," he said to the woman shining a glass behind the bar.

"Tell me one I haven't heard before." She cocked a hip out to the side and pierced him with a look.

"Okay. She's my second in command. She's brilliant. She's beautiful. She's completely untouchable and only partly because of the second-in-command thing."

The bartender looked over his shoulder and he looked up into the mirror. Sam stood behind him.

"So what are the other reasons?"

He dropped his gaze and nodded with defeat. Yep. He could have predicted her appearance what with the day he'd had. "Drink, Major?"

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

What words are most often said after watching Stargate?

Would those be, "What a beautiful couple?" or "They should be togheter?"

No.

After a close consideration, we observe that things are much more complex than that.

In the first place, how couldn't they in over 8 years at least kiss one time when they weren't in a parallel reality, or in a time loop, or in their dreams, or under the influence of a freaking disease which made them primitive?

How?!

Why didn't Jack retire when he was a general? Dr. Weir wasn't a military woman, though she commanded the SGC for a little while.

I think that the most suitable words for their relation are "It's complicated."

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

"What's that? I said please no doohickeys?" asked Jack, eyeing the electronical looking parts on the table.

"It's nothing from somewhere else, only things from here."

"Is it my toaster?" Jack got more suspicious. "Or, the microwave?"

"No, it's . . . complicated," answered Sam.

"Complicated?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it's . . . it's the coffee machine. It's not working, and I can fix the Stargate, but I cannot fix a simple coffee machine."

"What?! Now, that's really complicated!"

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

Sam took a commercial flight into Regan and rented a car because she wanted this first visit with Jack since their new arrangement to be nothing but personal.

She hadn't spent much time in Washington in years, but she had lived here and worked at the Pentagon at one time and was confident she could still navigate her way around.

Wrong turn after wrong turn had her rethinking. Around the Air Force Memorial under construction, past the Marine Corp Memorial, over the bridge; when she spotted the Navy Memorial on Constitution Avenue she decided the universe had a perverse sense of humor.

Turning around on Pennsylvania Avenue she considered stopping at the White House and asking President Hayes for directions.

Finally arriving at the Pentagon parking lot where Jack was waiting, getting into the car he asked, "Why didn't you let me know your flight had been delayed?"

"It's complicated," was her grumbling reply as she followed his directions to a nearby restaurant to begin their romantic weekend.

o-O-o

**By picardythirds**

For the past hour, Sam had been glued to the screen, scrolling rapidly through pages of writing. Normally Jack loved to watch Sam work, but they were on vacation! At a hotel! With beaches! This called for an intervention. But first, he needed intel.

"Wat'cha doin'?"

"You won't understand, it's complicated"

"Try me"

"Don't say I didn't warn you." With a wry glance, Sam moved over so Jack could see.

"Apparently theoretical wormhole physics is easy, but trying to figure out when exactly we got together is complicated? Carter, there were flowers, a wedding, the honeymoon . . ."

"It is for the shippers."

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

She sorts through a tangled web that's her emotions. They're raw and untried, but wilful in making their presence known ever since she's learned to shove them back to a place that has never seen the light of day.

The man at her side fights his own inner battle that's only betrayed by the lines around his eyes and his lips.

There's just the two of them. And she thinks that it finally matters.

She slants her lips over his.

Then they're moving like clockwork, the way they do in the field, careening into an abyss that's pain and pleasure.

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

He's in love with her. She's in love with him.

Easy, right? It shouldn't be complicated at all. _Shouldn't be_.

But then there are gates to the stars. And there are wormholes.

And along with that there are aliens, and snakes that live in your HEAD and control your BRAIN!

An ex wife, a dead son, and a SOON to be ex fiancé. _Oh, and that creepy ascended guy._

Secrets and conspiracies and secret organizations with hidden agendas who plot to keep them apart!

Bureaucrats and politicians (don't forget the sneaky senators!).

They've been copied and cloned and memory stamped too.

There was that time he was frozen in ice and then she went and got herself kidnapped by metal BUGS (and that's just one of the more recent _'adventures'_).

Then there are the rules and regulations and codes of conduct. Those are the worst of all because they both swore an oath and are true to their word.

So he's in love with her, and she's in love with him, but they have to leave it in the room, and neither one of them are actually _OK _with that.

Yeah . . . it's complicated.

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Sam bit her lip nervously as she waited for Jack's response. He turned the smooth cylindrical object over in his hands, rubbing it softly with his thumbs.

Her heart was racing and she felt sick to her stomach. What if he didn't want this, what if he walked away, or worse, stayed because he felt it was his duty, or his obligation.

She looked at the floor and was startled by the soft touch of his hand. She looked up into his dark eyes.

"I do want this, but . . ."

"It's complicated."

She slipped her fingers between his and squeezed tightly.

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Sam lay back and let her bed bear the weight of her cast. It was her first broken leg and she hadn't had it for more than a few days and she was already itchy and twitchy. Now she really got Jack's complaining about his broken leg eight years ago after Antarctica.

Thoughts of Jack made her recall the conversation she'd had with Keller in the Genii mine. Her 'seeing-anyone' answer had been a lie wrapped in truth. She'd gotten good at those about her and Jack.

Their love had never been complicated, just achieving the freedom to express it.

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

"It's complicated"

"Sir?"

"I don't know Carter. I get in these routines; I'm a creature of habit. You know me"

"Statistics show that the probability of incursion is high when you don't ta . . . "

"CARTER! I know all that. Why don't you use that massive beautiful brain of yours and invent a contraption that does it for me.?"

"Sir, there are several automatic mechanisms on the market you could try"

"There are? Well why didn't you say something"

"I just did"

Sam walked away mumbling under her breath.

"The man can kill a goa'uld, but he can't lock his front door.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

And there it was. Simple, but beautiful, it was perfect.

No glitz, no glam, but just enough girly girl to make her giddy.

"You two been together long?" the salesperson asked.

"You could say that," he answered.

"I see," she said with a smile. "So its been a long drawn out angst-filled courtship full of obstacles and situations constantly forcing you to throw your love aside for the greater good until years later you finally got the chance to make your own dreams a reality?"

"Ah, well when you say it like that you make it seem so complicated."


	5. Chapter 5

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 5: Seeking Solace**

**By roque872002**

"Carter?" Jack whispered hoarsely in the darkness.

The prison cell was pitch black. He couldn't see a thing. Not even his hand in front of his face. But he could sense that she was there. He didn't know where they had taken Daniel or Teal'c, but he was glad he was with her.

"I'm here, Sir," she answered, her voice getting closer.

"You okay?" he asked as he crawled towards her voice.

"Uh, mainly. Little beaten up," she confessed, her hand meeting his.

"C'mere," he said as he pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her battered body.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

Jack woke up suddenly from his nightmare. His body was covered in cold sweat and his heart pounded fast.

He surely wasn't new to nightmares but since his wedding with Sam their frequency had reduced.

Rationally he knew his worries for their unborn baby had triggered the painful memories of his son's death. That didn't help him to push the horrendous images away.

He felt Sam reaching out for him. "C'mere, Jack".

He let his wife embrace him; her love soothing his tormented soul.

He had finally learnt there was no shame in seeking solace in people who loved him.

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

They had a fight. No, not really a fight, more of an argument. And if they were asked about what had caused it neither of them would have known. They simply were not used to being around each other the whole day long. That meant not used to being around each other as a couple, not as CO and 2IC who spent days and nights together on alien planets. But in the end he simply said: "C'mere." And seeking solace with the other worked as it has always done.

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

To say that Jack O'Neill right now was a nervous man would be an understatement.

People around him they thought he looked petrified, and he was.

He had only done this one other time and he knew how that turned out. He was afraid he might screw it up . . . again.

He was about to be married. More than that, he was about to be someone's husband.

That someone was about to be his wife.

That someone was Colonel Samantha Carter.

So to him, seeking solace in that one little fact, made what he was going through all worth it.

o-O-o

**By fems**

The phone call had come while Jack was in the middle of a meeting. It took him over four hours to get to the SGC. By the time he arrived Sam was in recovery, all pale with a bulky bandage under her infirmary outfit and hooked up to an IV.

Jack's hands were shaking when he took her hand in his but he took comfort in Lam's reassurance that his wife would be fine. "God, Sam, you really scared me."

After a moment her fingers curled around his and her eyes opened. "Sorry Jack," she whispered in a hoarse tone.

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

He knew she was hurting. Dad was missing, and she was blaming herself.

It only took a couple of seconds before Sam opened the door.

"Sir?"

"Just wanted to see if you were alright."

"I'm fine, Sir."

"Yeah?"

He could see her fighting the tears.

"Carter, let me in."

Sam pulled back to let Jack enter her quarters.

"Sorry for the mess, Sir."

When he didn't reply, Sam looked up. The sympathy on his face made the last of her walls come down.

Jack took Sam into his arms, while she sobbed into his neck.

After a few moments, she pulled back. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"For what?"

"For ruining your shirt." She glanced up. "And your neck too."

Jack laughed. "Just consider me your kleenex."

Sam smiled and held in a laugh. "Well anyways, Sir . . . thank you."

"Any time, Carter. And on that note, let's go split that new double layered, raspberry filled chocolate cake in the commissary."

"Chocolate?"

"And raspberry."

Sam motioned to the door and smiled. "After you, Colonel Kleenex."

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

It had been three weeks since Daniel died . . . Ascended . . . whatever. Jack only knew his friend was gone and it hurt, more than he would ever admit.

So he had pushed on. Forced the team on missions they weren't ready to handle. Kept everyone at a distance, including Carter – especially Carter.

But every man reaches a breaking point when he can't handle one more stab to the gut with a wrenching knife of grief and guilt. The night Jack finally broke he found himself at her door.

When she saw him standing there she just knew. She opened her arms and he fell into them.

Soon his lips were on hers. Fingers tangled in her hair. He devoured her like the starved man he was, seeking to fill the emptiness in his soul.

He knew it was wrong but he needed it. He needed her. And she knew that so she didn't stop him.

They gave each other solace through the night.

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

A wonder SG-1 slept at night. The worship-seeking Ori preaching conversion or death, were powerful; appeared invincible.

Breathing meant being away from the SGC. On the Washington flight, pretending to be as oblivious as the Earth population, Sam didn't eat, didn't call ahead, didn't think. Once there, she used her key and open invitation. Sam stepped into the bedroom, stripped the unnecessary and got into bed next to the only man capable of making her feel safe.

No questions. Jack pulled Sam into his arms.

"I'm here."

Sam grabbed on a little tighter, breathed in deeper and confirmed, "I know."

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

She cupped her hand over the cool marble. It was a wicked black with swirls of midnight blue and pinpricks of white. It suited him, she thought.

She tucked a strand of long grey hair behind her ear. She was still uncomfortable with being old; even more so now that she wasn't the youngest of a pair.

And when you're old, well, you're supposed to go suddenly or after a long struggle. You're certainly not supposed to go in battle. But anyway, it's what he would have wanted.

She leaned into Daniel who stood strong next to her. Thank goodness.

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

She sorts through a tangled web that's her emotions. They're raw and untried, but wilful in making their presence known ever since she's learned to shove them back to a place that has never seen the light of day.

The man at her side fights his own inner battle that's only betrayed by the lines around his eyes and his lips.

There's just the two of them. And she thinks that it finally matters.

She slants her lips over his.

Then they're moving like clockwork, the way they do in the field, careening into an abyss that's pain and pleasure.

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Jack stared at the photograph of his beautiful son; the smile that once lit up his face, the dark hair that framed his face. The pain was still raw, a scar that opened at the slightest touch. He could stem the bleeding and patch it up but it would never fully heal.

A hand slipped around his waist. He took her hand in his and shakily set the black and white image in his hand beside the photo.

His other hand slid to her stomach, his Band-Aid, his second chance, his biggest fear - and no bigger than a grape.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

Usually it was hiding in her lab, lights out, staring into the darkness. Sometimes it was pushing her limits on the running path or pushing the limits of her bike as she took corners so fast it was almost impossible to maintain control. But tonight she needed something more.

Desperate to erase the haunted images that kept assaulting her mind, she fought to keep her composure. Turning around she found him there and lost her control, her breath, and all pretense that she would find the solace she was seeking anywhere else but in his body tonight.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

Sam's eyes were studying the ground. Her head was too heavy, and her expression was that of a desolate woman.

What was wrong with her? She had all that she wanted. Being at Stargate Command was her dream; her father's too. She was travelling to other planets. She encountered new tech she could play day after day. Since she was a little girl she wanted to go out into space, but at that time she knew that space was a shuttle between the moon and earth, with flying food and juices at zero gravity.

So how brilliant was the SGC for her? She herself stated that she has the perfect life.

But did she?

That expression she had that day, was a relief of feelings. She was just seeking solace, and not from who knows who.

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

Boots off, feet up, book hovering precariously in front of his face, Daniel was very pleasantly relaxed as he stretched out on Sam and Jack's couch to read. It had been a while since he'd been to their place, but when he was here, it always felt like home. Like he belonged. The team dynamic lived on.

Sam was threatening to disturb his peace though. She had started in the bedroom. Daniel could hear things clattering around up there. Soft thumps followed by the loud slamming of cupboard doors. Then thump thump thump thump thump . . . across the ceiling. She was heading for the stairs.

Then she was like a whirlwind sweeping into the lounge, blasting all the doors on the entertainment unit open, ripping CDs and DVDs out, and depositing them all over the floor. He groaned inwardly.

Jack came in from the kitchen, scanned the carnage, took one look at his wife who was up to her elbows in discs, and made a hasty retreat upstairs. Daniel knew the scene up there wasn't much better.

"Jack?!" Sam yelled.

Daniel winced. She was right next to his head.

"Yes?" Jack shouted from the safety of the stairs as he slowly made his way back down.

"You don't happen to know where my Sarah McLachlan album is do you?"

"Who? What?" Jack was just inside the doorway now.

"Sarah McLachlan. The album's called Solace."

Daniel's eyes widened. Oops.

"Sorry. Never heard of it." Jack shrugged.

Sam huffed and went back to scrounging through the piles. Daniel tried to hide his reaction, ducking back behind his book, but he was sure Jack had spotted it. He stole another glance at Jack. Yep. He was still looking at him. His face was impassive, but his eyes danced dangerously.

Daniel was SO getting blackmailed.

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

"Come here."

Sam was blinded by tears but those two small words were a blazing beacon of comfort and with a sob she turned into the strong arms that reached for her. Her arms wrapped tightly around him in turn and her face tucked into his neck where her tears wet the collar of his shirt.

No more words were said as they stood together and breathed together. All there was for Sam was his arms cradling her close, the strength of his body holding her up, and the heartbeat beneath her ear as she received her solace in Jack.


	6. Chapter 6

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 6: A Moment in Time**

**By XFchemist**

So far they had only seen her like a grey and blurry outline, but now it was totally different and they couldn't remove their eyes from the screen.

Their baby was really there. Her big closed eyes. Her perfect mouth which was partially open. Her little nose. She was beautiful. She was their miracle. His second chance at fatherhood. Her deepest desire become a reality. His redemption. Their future.

They interlaced their fingers together and kept staring at the 3D image in awe. Their breaths caught in their throats; their eyes teary.

Time stood still while love filled the room.

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

He stares when he thinks she isn't looking. He watches her, just being.

She watches him underneath sunglasses. She watches his face, his body. He scares her, and flames the fire in her veins.

He looks away quickly, pretending to be interested in his shoes. She smiles gently.

She knows he's watching her eat. It makes her self-conscious. And excited.

Under the stars, with the campfire gently lighting their faces, they share a glance. And another.

A moment in time, and without guilt, they relish it.

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

Time always stood still for them.

It stood still when they first met.

It stood still when he met her dad for the first time.

It stood still when she had to go three months without him.

It stood still when they were forced to reveal they cared about one another to prove that they weren't za'tarcs.

It stood still when they both refused to give up on one another.

It stood still when she announced she was engaged.

It stood still when he comforted her as her father was dying.

But their moment in time came when they both said I do.

o-O-o

**By Nolamom**

It was so much easier when he led the team.

They went on a mission, nothing ever seemed to run smoothly, but it was alright, they were together. They'd fought and won against more odds than anyone had a right to in one lifetime.

But this waiting.

Damn, it's hard.

Suddenly, Walter announced "Incoming wormhole – it's SG-1s IDC"

The iris opened, and they stepped into the gateroom.

For General O'Neill, it was one perfect moment in time.

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

She stared into his eyes. Let her eyes travel the planes of his face. She reached as if to touch him and let her fingers settle as near to his lips as she could. The ice was first cold, and then it burned.

But she burned from within, too, and the ice turned to slick water beneath her fingertips. She slipped them down the ice until they were hand to hand.

She couldn't leave him there. She didn't want to.

She didn't have a choice.

She turned away from him, prepared to flee – the moment, her feelings, both.

Not goodbye.

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

Waiting is excruciating.

Jack thinks he's always understood it from a distance, cocooned from this special brand of torture by Sara's reticence to talk about his frequent periods of absence. In here however, waiting is no longer an abstract concept, but a nightmare out of which he cannot crawl.

The wide doors swing open, stopping him mid-pace, the weary smile on the doctor's face releasing the knot in his gut.

He shifts, seeing the reassuring rise and fall of her chest.

She'll live.

Boneless with relief, he sinks down into the nearest chair and cradles his head in his hands.

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

He had offered her the world and all she thought she wanted. Now sitting on the bench, outside the house that was going to be theirs, she confessed her truth. Samantha would let him go, in this moment in time, his heart would break. There was nothing that could ease his pain and sorrow, the ache she felt for him. She couldn't lie to him and she was sick of lying to herself. He wasn't the one who made her feel complete or occupied her thoughts. He will never be the one for her. He will never be Jack O'Neill.

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

They were sitting in the usual fishing spot, at the lake behind the cabin. It was dark, a new moon, and they simply looked up at the sky. Suddenly a shooting star crossed the sky. And another.

"I know, this time of year that must be the . . . !"

"Carter, just watch."

She relaxed, and for a long moment in time they forgot what they knew about all the things up there and simply enjoyed the beauty and the majesty of the sky.

o-O-o

**By fems**

The briefing with Hayes about the alternate reality Sam had visited recently was the perfect excuse to spend some time with her husband. Jack had been surprised by her visit but eagerly left his dinner preparations to reacquaint himself with her in the bedroom.

Now, both of them were spent and curled up in bed together.

Jack was the first to break the silence. "So, where was I?"

"You?"

He nodded. "Yeah, we're always together in those alternate realities."

"I got a glimpse of a time where everything was wrong," Sam said softly. "I guess I didn't want to know."

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

Most of the world believed time only flowed one way, but Sam knew better.

She hoped she knew better.

Her strength fading she pulled herself to where Jack lay with dead eyes and grasped his hand.

Ignoring the chaos around her she whispered to him, "We'll do it better next time."

The moment seemed to stretch and pull like the elastic on a slingshot. All was taut and still, then . . .

SNAP

Time moved backwards at a speed beyond reckoning and a bloodstained note tumbled through the Stargate onto the metal ramp.

Jack read, Sam standing beside him.

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

Jack looked at the woman lying in his arms. Her eyes were closed and her hair was messy. He smiled as he watched her eyes move under her lids, he could hear her heavy breathing. He watched her chest rise and fall with every breath.

He gazed at her lips. They were slightly parted and begging to be kissed. She sighed in her sleep.

To him she was perfect. And he had a very important question to ask.

He traced her cheek with his hand and grinned wider as she woke up in his arms.

"Sam, will you marry me?"

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

Excitement! 'Ice Cream Dream' was Jack's latest discovery.

Tiny tables allowed Jack to pull Sam super close while reviewing menus, with him like a kid, unable to decide; Happy Happy Joy Joy or Keeney Beany Chocolate. Laughing, Sam agreed to choose one.

They held hands, laughed, enjoyed each other. When the iced delight came, mischief overtook Jack's face completely, melting Sam's heart. Having her first taste, Sam savoured this moment in time, smilingly confessing, "I love you Jack."

Officially together a few months, but she'd never said it.

Spoons abandoned, Jack pulled Sam into a kiss, proving he felt the same way; suddenly realizing that the Happy Joy Keeny Beany combination made the best flavor in the house.

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Sam placed the warm bundle in his arms, the weight a shock to his system. He was shaking and sweating; this was the hardest thing he had ever done. The damage he could do scared him to death, he didn't feel safe, he couldn't trust himself. He tried to give the precious bundle back but she refused to take it.

A piercing cry made him look down. His breath caught in his throat. The tiny red face screwed up from crying. Little red fists flailed as he cried.

He rocked the little boy and smiled.

"Hello Jake, I'm your daddy."

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

Two parallel realities:

In the first one, Jack is a jackass. He is always irritated, and oh . . .he is not at the SGC. He is on his not so beautiful boat, Homer, asking for money just for the simple fact that someone wants to talk with him.

In the other reality, he's just as we know him - very funny, deep, though a skeptic and a cynic he's always optimistic and open-minded, a nice paradox.

The one and only difference between these two realities, but the one that made this huge gap between the two Jacks, is that in the first one he never met Carter.

Conclusion:

The one "moment in time" that that changed his life was when he met Sam.

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Sam sat on her beach towel, dug her toes into the hot sand, and breathed deep of the scent of the beach: water and heat and sunscreen. In the lake two people laughed and splashed water on each other.

A laugh turned into a joyous shriek as Jack swooped up their daughter into his arms and spun her around in the air. Water droplets arched out from the force of the spin and as their faces spun past her, she saw their unbridled joy in each other and their play and a moment in time was captured in her heart.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

"_Ours is the only reality of consequence."_

She wasn't sure why Teal'c's words were commanding her thoughts today. Maybe she wished she were somewhere else . . . some other day . . . or time.

Time.

She'd always felt that there would be a time when she'd have her one day, her always. But now she realized that one moment in time could change her reality forever. She looked at the Colonel lying so still and pale in the infirmary bed. She brought his hand to her lips and promised in the sweetest of whispers, "Tomorrow."

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

He didn't know how many loops he'd been through, but he was SOOO over it.

And then he'd kissed her. So emphasis on the _was_.

Now he just wanted to do it again and again and again . . . and again. Now, suddenly, the idea of kissing Carter every ten hours until the end of time, sans consequences, seemed pretty damn appealing.

He definitely wasn't telling Teal'c about this. No, Teal'c might just decide to explore the idea of making him very dead every ten hours until the end of time. Who knows how many different ways a Jaffa has to kill a man?

And then there was Sam. Carter. He'd have all the time in the world to get to know all about her. But she'd never remember even one of their conversations . . . not a single one of the moments they would share. She didn't even remember their kiss.

This wasn't the way. Jack knew he'd have another window of opportunity. Someday. And when it happened he'd get to kiss Carter every day for the rest of his life. And she'd _definitely _remember.


	7. Chapter 7

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 7: Triumph**

**By Major Ryan**

**10 minutes**  
Come on you stupid computer.

**9 minutes**  
"Right! Yasureyabetcha I'm on a roll!"

**8 minutes**  
Could do with some pie though.

**7 minutes**  
"Can't chat now Daniel, I'm in a hurry to . . . "

**6 minutes**  
Still got plenty of time.

**5 minutes**  
Just a quick change and I'm ready.

**4 minutes**  
Maybe I could swing by the mess for some pie.

**3 minutes**  
"Do'h, no time."

**2 minutes**  
"Excuse me, George."

"Colonel, What are you doing out of uniform?"

"Handing you my resignation."

"You're resigning? What for?"

"So I can do this!"

**1 minute**  
Triumph!

**FLASH  
**"What are you smiling at?"

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

He'd fought and won many a battle. He'd even saved the planet a few times along the way. But this one had been the longest and the hardest. This was the one he'd actually thought he'd lost that day she hummed in the elevator.

So when he saw her walking down the aisle towards him, radiant and angelic and wearing the biggest smile he'd ever seen, he wasn't surprised that he was feeling more than utter and complete happiness. He'd won, or rather, they'd won. This is what triumph _really _felt like. And he knew she felt it too.

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

On the first day, Jack recognises no one. Sam slips her hand into his, but he flings it away roughly and cries out for the sarcophagus.

On the fifth day, he curses her name. Unperturbed, she sits through the uncontrolled vitriol he hurls at her, her silent tears the only plea for forgiveness that he cannot give.

On the tenth day, he seizes, still strapped down as sick need flays his body. Guilt grows to astronomical proportions as she lives through the consequences of her actions.

On the twentieth day, he surfaces, disoriented. She's still there, riding out the storm.

o-O-o

**By fems**

It had been a long week but Carter had finally been able to join him at their place in DC and Jack had made a celebratory dinner. He raised his glass in a toast and smiled at his wife. "To ridding the universe of the Ori."

"Hear, hear," Sam said, clinking his glass with hers.

"And no more major bad guys in our galaxy," he added, before they both took a sip.

She looked at him pensively. "Maybe now it's time for me to finally move on from SG-1."

Jack reached for her hand and squeezed it. "Maybe… we'll see."

o-O-o

**By Nolamom**

Meanwhile, on the other side of the exploding mothership . . .

Apophis would be angry, no doubt about that. But watching that mothership blow was worth the wrath of someone like him.

O'Neill looked over at his partner is this little maneuver. It was all he could do to keep from reaching those few inches and gathering her in his arms. But he couldn't. Not in front of her dad. Not with all that stood between them.

But he was content with the radiance of her victory smile.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

"I am going to triumph in this competition"

"Bet, Teal'c! And you chose a day 3 weeks before Sam's due date!"

"DanielJackson, I've heard early labor is often caused by intercourse during the last trimester. O'Neill and ColonelCarter are very sexually active therefore my pre-vision has solid foundation."

"What . . . how do . . . no . . . I don't wanna know!"

"Know what Daniel?" Sam asked entering in the room with Jack.

"About the number of you and O'Neill's couplings."

"That's very high indeed." Sam seriously replied.

Daniel blushed and ran away while the others started laughing. The finally got their revenge for that boring seminar about Mesopotamia.

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

Sam gripped her husband's hand in hers. He turned his head slightly and smiled at her. His gaze returned to the stage before them a second later as he squeezed her hand.

Jack eyed the line of young children on the stage. He was looking for one child specifically.

He spotted her long tight blonde curls and bright blue eyes as she glanced around the room.

"And the winner of this year's science fair . . . Grace O'Neill!" the principle said into the microphone.

Jack jumped to his feet.

"That's my girl," Jack said proudly as he smiled and clapped his hands.

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

SG1 was at O'Neill's cabin celebrating the demise of the Goa'uld and the Replicators. Teal'c did not enjoy fishing. His teammate Samantha Carter did.

It was obvious to Teal'c that she and O'Neill needed time alone. He tried many subtle ways to lure Daniel Jackson from the cabin unsuccessfully. Finally, he physically dragged his friend away on an unwelcome hike he stretched to several hours.

Returning to the cabin they saw O'Neill and Carter on the dock locked in a passionate embrace.

Daniel Jackson quickly turned away in stunned embarrassment. Teal'c followed his friend back into the woods looking triumphant.

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

Jack stood watching Sam dancing with Pete in the most depressing, claustrophobic, miserable un-engagement party of his life.

At least Carter looked miserable too, Jack thought with evil glee.

Then he had an idea.

Jack walked up to the dancing couple, tapping Pete on the shoulder. Pete gave over his partner to him, smiling in an oblivious way that made Jack's insides high-five him.

"Carter," Jack said, taking Sam in his arms.

"Sir," Sam replied quietly.

The new couple danced, and as soon as Pete went back to his chair and watched Jack went into motion.

Jack pulled Sam close, ran his hand down just to the swell of her derriere, and whispered in her ear.

He could see Pete sit up straighter.

Jack pulled back, and making sure Pete was still watching, leaned in to slowly and softly kiss Sam on the lips, lingering a moment too long for effect.

Then he walked away, went back to his chair, and watched the disaster he left in his wake.

Pete was furious, going back to Sam and wanting to know what the hell just happened. Doing a great impression of a goldfish, Sam was speechless and was unable to answer, much to Jack's delight.

Jack did feel sorry for Sam a wee bit.

But sitting in his chair, watching Pete rant and walk around in circles, and watching Sam's delicious bewilderment and sexy shades of blush . . .

"Peeled and mashed, Spudly. Victory is mine."

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Jack fell beneath his two attackers. He gasped for breath and twisted away but it was in vain. He had no weapons but his hands to hold them off and in the face of them, decades of experience fighting bloody battles failed him.

He was forced to do what he had sworn to them he'd never do—he stopped fighting. "Uncle!"

"Yeah!" his daughter stooped tickling him and crowed triumphantly. "We won Mommy!"

He sprawled on the cabin floor, caught his breath, and smiled up at her grinning face and the smiling face of Sam just over their daughter's shoulder.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

"Yes!" Jack threw his fists up in the air as if he'd just won the Stanley cup. "Finally!"

Sam smirked at him as she added up the points on the Scrabble board. "Doohickeys" had just earned Jack a triple word score.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

"Hey Carter, listen up. I was thinking of buying a lotto ticket. What do you think?"

"Well, Sir, the chance of actually winning is very unlikely. The probability is th . . . "

"Ack! Don't even THINK of finishing that sentence!"

"Sorry, Sir. I guess one ticket won't hurt"

So Jack went to buy a ticket.

The next day the SGC was shaken by a powerful voice:

"YEEES! THAT'S IT!"

"What is it, Sir? You won the lotto?"

"What? Nooo. I didn't even guess a number. A new season of The Simpsons arrived!"

"Aaah, that's . . . something."

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

"Sir?" Sam asked as she was entering Jack's office.

"Carter?" Jack looked up from behind his desk to see her standing there.

"Do you have a moment?" She looked pensive.

"For you, always. Shut the door and have a seat."

As she did so, he wondered what made her so nervous.

"So what can I help you with?"

"I kinda . . . well if it's okay with you . . ." she had a hard time finding the words.

He got up from his desk and stood in front of her.

"What, Carter?"

"Can we go fishing?"

Jack could only smile and nod his head in triumph.

He was finally going fishing with Samantha Carter.

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

"What're you doing here?" asked Jack, seeing Sam looking through all the cupboards in the kitchen. "Or are you suspecting alien bugs in there?" teased he, noticing her slightly irritated face.

"No, it's just something I need!"

"What would you need so desperately to raid my kitchen?"

"Can you please stop teasing m . . . Ah, there it is," she said with a triumphant smile.

Recognizing the thing in her hand he decided to tease her about her love for blue Jello instead.

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

She twisted with a grunt. Turned with a sigh. Whacked something metallic and heavy against the inside of the device with a curse. She flipped over and suddenly her six was waving in the air.

"Uh, Major?"

"Sonuva—"

"Carter."

"This stupid mother—"

"Carter!"

She pulled back and banged her head on the edge of the DHD. "Ouch! Dammit! What?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Sir." She had the courtesy to blush prettily.

He waved her off. "Carry on."

She nudged a crystal with her toe and the device began to hum. A satisfied grin bloomed across her face. "Success!"

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Jack stopped in the doorway, holding his breath. Jake was pulling himself up on the edge of the couch. His face forming the expression Sam pulled when deep in concentration. He fell onto his bottom twice but, unfazed, he tried again.

Sam joined him in the doorway and together they waited.

Jake turned towards the chair and held his arms out in front of him. He lifted his foot and placed it on the floor. He took his first tentative steps across the room before his parents swept him into their arms and smothered him with kisses and cuddles.

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

Cold water hit his body like a slap to the face. He needed it.

Weak wasn't a word used to describe Jack O'Neill but he'd realized he was.

Jack's weakness; Samantha Carter. Rank didn't allow fantasy fulfillment, honor wouldn't condone disregarding rules.

So Jack took cold showers, after team dinners in establishments that facilitated dancing; after the rare opportunity of taking Sam home; sometimes after just thinking about her at home, alone.

It'd been happening for years, more often now than was comfortable, but as the cold rushed over his body, Jack acknowledged a bittersweet triumph; he would go another day.

Jack O'Neill took cold showers.


	8. Chapter 8

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 8: Irregular Orbit**

**By hlndncr**

They were like twin planets in an irregular orbit. They could pass so close together as to be nearly touching, only a thin blue force field holding back their obvious love. Then move so far apart an entire solar system could fit between them, relationships with deficient stand-ins filling the gap.

Like any such trajectory, theirs was unstable. Inevitably they would either careen into a single unified path—the resulting fallout unknown, or fly apart forever—a devastating loss.

General Jack O'Neill sat in his office contemplating what should happen next.

It was time, he decided, for their worlds to collide.

He made his way to where Samantha Carter, the woman deeply loved, kept vigil at her father's deathbed and promised to be with her _**Always.**_

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

"So. Downtime, Carter?"

She plasters him with a blinding smile. "Yes, Sir."

Whatever her plans are, he's not privy to it. Their holding pattern is pretty much an institution, a conversation of polite asking, refusing and going separate ways. But he'd be damned if he doesn't ask anyway.

"Let me guess. You're staying here while I-"

He's stopped mid-sentence by her smirk. "I'm going fishing."

His brows hit his hairline as his mouth resembles the very thing he purports to catch up north. " . . . Uh, fishing?"

Carter does a funny motion which he interprets as casting and reeling. "Fishing."

". . . with-"

"You."

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

He was drifting along with no place or purpose, frozen and alone. Pulled into chaos he found himself being dragged towards the ball of fire that threatened to consume him. The gravity too strong for him to fight it, drained, he allowed himself to fall to its power.

At the last moment, he collided with something. He fell into an orbit around it, this life giving planet. She is his grounding force, keeping him in his irregular orbit around her, sometimes eccentric and rogue but she always keeps him near and pulls him into line when he goes too far.

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

They were sitting at the table. Sam was trying to explain something to Jack, something she came across in Atlantis. But he didn't seem to get it.

"I'll show you."

She took her plate, shifted the remaining food into patterns and then used the bottles with ketchup and mustard to draw circles around the it.

"Is it clearer now?!"

He studied her plate, his brows knitted with concentration. Finally he looked up.

"Your orbit is irregular!"

o-O-o

**By Nolamom**

Somehow she would get to him. She had to. She worked night and day, pushing herself and everyone else to accomplish what seemed impossible. She invented a new kind of laser drill, working tirelessly to finish it as quickly as possible.

"General Hammond, we're ready. I know it's taken three months, and there's no guarantee it will work. Teal'c has volunteered to try the drill. However, if he doesn't break through in an hour, he'll suffocate and there's no way for us to re-establish a wormhole without killing him."

"Major Carter, what is your assessment?"

"Well, Sir, I do think it's the best chance we have of rescuing Colonel O'Neill from that irregularly orbiting planet."

Samantha held her breath, waiting for the General's response. With all her heart, there was nothing more important than getting him home.

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

Daniel is staring at a train wreck in motion. Sam, Jack, and Pete, all standing next to each other and talking. And all trying to make nice. If he wasn't already nauseous from forced-on-him-by-Jack beer, he'd throw up from this.

But it was interesting in a anthropologist sort of way. The Amazon Queen, being courted by Jimmy Olsen and Superman. Oy.

Daniel suddenly turned away, feeling guilty for enjoying this so much. It really was sad, because Pete's irregular orbit around Sam was sadly punctuated by Sam's magnetic pull towards Jack.

And all three were so oblivious.

Daniel got up to get another beer.

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

"_Sir, Just Go!"_

"NO!"

Jack couldn't believe how much anger and anguish came from him uttering that word. He didn't want to leave her behind. That was against his code. He saw how she looked. She looked like she would break down and cry at any moment.

No words were needed as they just looked at one another during what could've been their last moments before Jaffa came waltzing around that corner. It was lucky the C4 went off when it did. He couldn't bare to think what his life would be like without her in it.

His world would've been in an irregular orbit.

o-O-o

**By fems**

The alien meteor shower was incredible and to Sam it was a definite perk of being stationed in a different galaxy.

Jack pulled her tighter to his chest. "I've run out of wishes to make."

"If our calculations are correct you have all night to come up with more," she said, smiling.

"I like the sound of that."

"The comet's irregular orbit due to gravitational perturbations means it'll be another five hundred years before it'll be back to leave more meteoroids–"

He kissed her neck before pulling her down on the blanket. "I love it when you talk dirty."

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

"I'm stumped, How about you?" Jack turned the book around to face Daniel, letting an audible sigh past his lips.

"Irregular orbit, Irregular orbit," Daniel repeated back over and over again.

"What kind of clue is that? I'm afraid Jack, this is Sam's expertise." He looked up to see Jack fidgeting with his pen.

"Well I can't exactly ask her Danny boy, she's the one who I'm up against."

"Then your out of luck," he stated as he leaned back in his chair.

A minutes passed and they both just sat there, staring at the offending puzzle.

Suddenly Jack jumped up from his seat. "Aha!"

"You figured it out?" Daniel perked.

"Nope."

"Okay . . . "

"It's lunch time and I'm just going to go down . . . to . . . something," he started to ramble off.

"You know Jack, she will be expecting the finished puzzle tonight."

Jack just looked at Daniel and gave him a smirk.

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

The universe was perfectly aligned. Stars lived, died, others were born. Every planet in perfect axis with the Sun, sort of the way the body worked, blood flowing through the body, pumped by an efficient heart.

Samantha Carter was a fit Air Force officer. She'd run three miles comfortably, drop a guy twice her size effortlessly and control her body when necessary. But now, standing next to Jack O'Neill was she helpless.

He was like a star bursting into her otherwise perfectly aligned world, forcing her mind to orbit irregularly around thoughts of holding his hand, touching his face and kissing his mouth.

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

He watched with half amusement and half trepidation as she walked uneven circuits around the small camp they'd set up. Sometimes a perfect circle, sometimes a wobbly ellipse, he knew it was evidence of inner turmoil.

"Hey Carter, coffee?"

"No, thank you."

And still she walked. The look on her face taking her farther from him than her orbit around the campfire.

Several laps and many minutes later, "Tea?"

"No, thank you."

Finally, she ran smack dab into his chest – proof that while she was looking straight ahead she wasn't seeing a thing.

"Carter, it's okay. You can stop. C'mere."

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Overhead the night revealed the star-studded universe and Jack leaned back from his telescope. He reached over Teal'c's legs to get to the cooler as the observation platform was crowded with his teammates, all bundled up against the night chill.

As he grabbed a beer he caught more of the astronomy lesson Carter was giving Daniel.

"So it has an irregular orbit?" Daniel asked.

"Eccentric," Jack corrected. "There are only irregular galaxies and satellites."

Daniel gave him a blank look but the approving smile Carter gave him was like a shooting star, brilliant and bright and uplifting of the spirit.

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

Jack glanced around the off world camp. His watch would be starting soon. His team would be heading off to bed within the next few minutes.

Daniel had his head buried in one of his journals, writing furiously.

Teal'c silently walked around the perimeter of the camp - making sure it was safe for the tenth time that hour.

Carter sat with her back against a log directly opposite him. She was looking at something in her hands, no doubt working another miracle. She looked up and met his gaze. She smiled.

She was way out of his solar system.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

Black holes will wreak havoc in a solar system if they get too close to a planet. They will literally pull the planet apart over time affecting the orbits and trajectories of other objects in the system.

Irregular orbits slowly sending heavenly bodies slamming into each other with no regard for physics or the rules and regulations thereof.

Sam slowly opened her eyes just enough to peek through the half-opened lids at the man next to her. She couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face. Heavenly body indeed.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

Since Jack and Sam have know each other, they've passed through many experiences others couldn't even dream about it. They've even died and been revived, and cloned. But they had moments of "great greatness" too.

Despite the fact that the energy spiked each time they were together and the chemistry was obvious, something was messed up. They were dating wrong people on some occasions. They were on irregular orbits.

Until one moment. That moment meant that Sam broke the engagement with Shanahan, went to Jack, told him what she did and explaining why. Unlucky enough, a woman appeared from the door and ruined everything.

Though Kerry liked Jack, even she saw that he was made for Sam and vice versa.

At that moment, "planets" Jack and Sam fixed their orbits.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

Jack was lying on the grass near his pregnant wife, staring at the bright moon and thinking about their story.

They had danced around each other for years, like a moon and his planet. They had moved in perfect synchronicity. Since the beginning an intense force had linked them together despite their differences.

Sometimes their orbit had diverged a little from the right path. The moon had almost left his planet.

After eight years they had finally found each other because they could not orbit perfectly without the other half. Without the other person, they would have an irregular orbit.


	9. Chapter 9

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 9: Never Again**

**By Ikorni**

"We could just, uh-"

"Forget about this?"

"Actually, I was gonna say 'talk it over'."

"Really?"

"Bad idea, huh?"

"You don't do talking."

"Right. Look, we'll just forge-"

"Sir."

"Carter, I-"

"What do you want me to say? That it was-"

"-good?"

"I was about to say…'wrong on so many levels', but 'good' works for me too."

"'_Great_''s better."

"You're fishing. Fine, it was _great_. But I'm never eating cake off-world again."

"Actually, I was gonna ask for another piece."

"After what it made us do?!"

"Hey, it's good cake!"

"Well . . . I suppose we've got to keep the natives happy, right?"

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

Sam groaned as she pulled the duvet over her head. The light was streaming in the window and the birds were singing far too loudly for her pounding head.

She let out a sigh as the memories of the previous night flooded back to her. She remembered going to the wedding that happened the day before. She remembered the party. She remembered alcohol. Beer. Wine. Whiskey. Vodka. Rum. Shots . . .

Someone moved in the bed beside her. She froze. She heard a sigh. She relaxed. It was Jack.

"Never again," Jack grumbled as he rolled over and wrapped his arms around her.

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Jack scanned the faces partying at his cabin but didn't see the one he wanted. Sensing where Sam might go, he slipped around to the deck. There she was in her white gown, leaning against the ribbon festooned railing.

"Hey," he said quietly.

She looked at him and smiled brilliantly. "Hey."

The breeze blew a strand of hair across her face and she tucked it back behind her ear and the new wedding ring on her hand glittered in the sun.

His heart swelled at the sight. That ring meant never again would he have to say she wasn't his.

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

Jack trudged through the halls of the SGC covered head to toe in slimy brown mud, swearing to himself he would never again agree to a "simple diplomatic mission."

Yes, travel through the Stargate beat paperwork at the Pentagon hands down. Yes, he missed his team. Yes, it was the most uninterrupted, albeit strictly professional, time he'd spent with Carter in months.

Three days on the run from a rebel insurgency on a planet made entirely of muck had him rethinking his nostalgia.

Enjoying a steaming shower at last, he missed the locker room door opening. When the curtain parted and Sam stepped in it took Jack a moment to find his voice.

"Tell Mitchell I'm available for diplomatic duty anytime."

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

"'Come with me,' you said. 'It'll be fun,' you said. I swear, Carter if I have to sit here for one more . . . " His complaint lodged in his throat as she stepped out of the dressing room wearing a red, white, and blue bikini.

Jack would never again complain about going shopping with Sam.

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

Never again would Teal'c look at Colonel Carter in the same way.

Warrior, protector, mother, friend, sister. She was still all these things. But now there was more. And it was _most _surprising. He thought that his surprise must be plainly evident as he evaluated her . . . attire with a sweep of his eyes and a raise of his eyebrow.

He believed the Tau'ri referred to this as a 'sex kitten'.

"Teal'c! D'you ever hear of knocking?!"

Colonel Carter seemed surprised also.

It took him mere moments to realize his danger, deftly avoiding the boot O'Neill had hurled at him.

"Get out!"

"I will take my leave immediately, O'Neill." He said as he stepped back out of the room and closed the door.

O'Neill paused and then shouted through the door, "Golf later though, Buddy?"

"Indeed."

He could hear Colonel Carter's laughter quite clearly as he made his way back down the hall. He would also never again visit the O'Neill residence without calling first.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

"Hey Carter, how about another fishing day? You kinda liked the first one."

"Don't know, Sir. I did enjoy the last time we went fishing, maybe too much; therefore, I can't go."

"This is officially the worst excuse for not going somewhere, Carter!"

"Actually, Sir, this explanation would seem more logical if you know the reason I don't want to go."

"Would you mind enlightening me with this reason?"

"Well, Sir, I could never again go fishing without kissing you without any kind of warning."

"And why is this a problem?"

"Need I remind you as my superior officer of the rule regarding relationships?"

"Then I guess I'll retire and never again rejoin the military."

"Wow, Jack. Then I guess I should prepare the rings."

"You do that!"

o-O-o

**By Nolamom**

As he told another joke, a fleeting thought crossed her mind. It was like a bad dream. One she'd much rather forget. Sam shuddered at the memory. "What was I thinking? I must have been insane" she thought. "How could I have misinterpreted my feelings for having what I want into settling for something less?"

Even now, as she looked over at the man who completed her world like none other, the memory of her brief engagement to the wrong man haunted her. Sam thanked her lucky stars that she'd come to her senses in time. "I'll never doubt my true feeling again!"

o-O-o

**By fems**

Jack cast a glance at his wife who was sitting next to him with her eyes closed, enjoying the sunny weather. "Sam?"

"Hmm?"

"Have you given your next assignment any thought?"

She frowned and turned to him before opening her eyes. "I thought you said-"

"Well, yes, but the JCS _do _want an answer next week. So, command of off-world base?"

"Never again," she said sharply. "I could hardly leave Atlantis to see you the entire year."

Jack smiled at her. "Spaceship? Four months in space followed by a month on Earth."

"A whole month with you . . . I like it."

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

Never again foraging his kitchen for the last package of Jello.

Never again looking for his pants in her bedroom.

Never again her cursing his coffee machine for being so slow.

Never again searching for his toothbrush among her cosmetics.

Never again discovering her underwear on his sofa.

Never again mistaking his deodorant for hers.

Never again her being astonished by the contents of his fridge.

Never again finding his Simpsons DVDs on her bookshelf.

Sam and Jack discovered that moving in together was the best thing ever.

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

"Never again!" Jack repeated to himself for the nth time in the past four hours.

Cassie had asked him to drive her to the mall because she wanted to buy something special for Sam's baby shower. It had seemed an innocent request at the time but after visiting tons of shops he was exhausted. When Teal'c and Daniel had joined them he had hoped to be saved from this torture but clearly it wasn't his lucky day.

His thoughts were interrupted by Teal'c coming towards him with a 3-feet tall plush teddy bear.

He grumbled between his teeth "Never again!"

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

_Daniel wanted his stupid shampoo from the showers. Environmentally correct shampoo, which he paid $25 a bottle for. Stupid, and stupid shampoo._

Jack could see Sam's back in the shower stall.

_And of course I said I'd get it, after he whined for ten minutes. All I wanted was to leave the mountain and have some beer and chicken wings. . . . Sam's voice isn't that bad. But please, please don't turn around . . ._

Sam turned around and Jack quickly pulled his head back from the corner.

_Dear God, I thought you loved me. Why are you putting a tall glass of Carter in front of me when I'm a Carterholic?_

Sam turned back to let the water wash her front. And continued singing, 'Don't Stop Believing'.

_Never again will I listen to Daniel._

But I did get to see a vision that I'll cherish for the rest of my -

Sam turned around again.

Jack beat his head against the wall.

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

As he downed another shot from his refilled shot glass, he wanted never again to be reminded of what had transpired.

Never again did he want to see that famous megawatt smile she gave.

Never again did he want to see his ring on her finger.

Never again did he want to be reminded of how royally he screwed up.

Never again did he want to feel like he did when she was around.

Never again did he want to be alone.

As he got into his truck and headed for Minnesota and his cabin, two words were stuck in his mind:

Never Again.

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Sam pushed open the front door and carried in the bags of shopping.

The house was too quiet; suspiciously quiet. She found the kitchen covered in chocolate, icing and sugar, flour and god knew what else. The remains of a cake sat by the bin. She dropped the bags on the floor in frustration.

Toys were strewn all over the living room floor, crayon ran in a line up along the wall and the bin was upturned on the floor, its contents spread like confetti.

She found Jack fast asleep on the couch and Jake happily munching on his fist.

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

She told me never again and I understood.

The countless times it went through my thoughts, having to battle with my decisions. The same battles being fought by the usual suspects that came in the form of _For the good of the crew, our careers and duty."_ Seemed like a complex and convincing story at the time, until we realized those thoughts came from a fear of being discovered by one another. It was one of our greatest tricks; a Söze of love that we pulled off pretty well, but others weren't so convinced. We had exposed our con and we had to deal with the repercussions. We let go of all the faux criminals that helped us escape. Never again would we deny what we are and what we feel, not for the world, not for the next alien hell bent on destroying us and not for each other.

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

Jack stood at Sam's infirmary bed. He hated this position, waiting for news of life or death; not being able to take her place.

The strong possibility of death lived every moment with them, but Jack knew that death wasn't just physical, but emotional, spiritual. Sam had brought Jack back to life before. Not even knowing, because of her, he breathed again.

While the monitor broadcast Sam's fight, Jack encircled her hand in his. Jack knew if Sam didn't make it he'd be the living shell of a dead soul.

He wouldn't survive.

Not without Sam.

Never again without Sam.

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

They sat side by side on the dock, bobbers floating along the surface of his pond. They made small talk about the weather, about lunch, about the SGC, but never about anything that really mattered.

She was bungling it all up. She could feel it. This was supposed to be about something more than fishing though neither had yet worked up the guts to say so.

Then Jack cleared his throat. She tensed, waiting for him to speak. But he settled back with a sigh.

He shifted. He spoke. "Hey. Sam. About that whole 'other guy' thing. Never again, okay?"


	10. Chapter 10

**The Shipper's Anthology of Penguin Literature: Volume II  
**

**Prompt # 10: Obsession**

**By Nolamom**

"Just one more Jack, I promise!"

"You've had three."

"One more isn't going to change much then, is it?"

"You're obsessed. That's what it is."

"But . . ."

"It won't matter what I say, will it?"

"Afraid not."

"I thought you'd gotten over this."

"I did too. Apparently not."

"Alright, ONE more. But that's the limit!"

"There's always room for Jello" Sam giggled as she helped herself to another serving of the bluey goodness.

o-O-o

**By Ikorni**

She locks the steering wheel, slams down on the clutch and yanks up the handbrake, feeling the alarming lurch of the car to the right as it spins a hundred and eighty degrees, throwing her into a slight skid that she easily corrects with hard counter-steering and throttle control. With her heart still pounding in her ears, Sam barks a laugh, inordinately pleased with herself for shaking that damned stalker of a cop that she calls her brother's bad judgement.

Ten minutes later, she screeches to a stop in front of a familiar house, seeing the door conveniently open as a dishevelled silver-haired man steps out to get the morning paper.

Perfect timing.

Grinning slyly, Sam runs up the porch to him just as she catches a glimpse of the cop coming to a stop just behind her car.

The confusion is evident in his face. "Carter? You in troub-?"

Her lips eat up the last of his words.

From a distance, she hears a car quietly put in reverse, the sound suspiciously resembling the whine of a guilty puppy.

_Mission accomplished. _

It's the last she'll ever hear of someone called Shanahan.

o-O-o

**By trinity3**

It was the sound of it that he was obsessed with. The way it breathed out of her so freely had Jack completely turned out; helpless.

He'd do anything necessary to make Sam do it. Embarrassed with himself at times, he was a General in the US Air Force after all. Yet every decoration he'd won, every honor he'd earned, fell noisily to reality's floor whenever she said it.

The sound of his name in Sam's mouth was more powerful than any star on his uniform. Lying in bed, hearing Sam call him "Jack," was this General's greatest obsession.

o-O-o

**By Lt. Colonel John Sheppard**

To Samantha Carter-O'Neill nothing was more precious these days then spending time with her family, especially spending time with her grumpy retired and former US Air Force general/husband, Jack O'Neill, and her apple of her eye, Jacob George O'Neill.

"D'oh!" came the reply as Sam looked and saw Jack rubbing his head after banging it on the inside of the Entertainment Center.

"You okay, Jack?"

"Just peachy, Carter." He gruffly replied as he finally found what he was looking for.

"Except what I wanna know is who put the recent season of The Simpson way in the back of the bottom shelf. Was it you Sport?" He looks over to his son who was more interested in his feet than he was in listening to his dad.

"Yeah I didn't think so. Well, Carter?"

"Yes, because your obsession with that show is corrupting our son. I don't want his first word to be something that came from a cartoon with yellow characters."

"Oh come on, Carter. I think it would be kinda cool."

"No, Jack."

Jack was about to retort when he heard a soft "D'oh" come behind him and the two parents looked and saw their son just smiling and giggling. When he looked back at his wife, he knew he was in trouble by the way she gave him "the look."

"Alright, fine, you win. It's an obsession. But it has never beaten my obsession for you."

o-O-o

**By XFchemist**

"Jack come to bed. If I didn't know you I would think you're obsessed with her." Sam tried to joke but knowing it was a delicate topic for his husband.

"I . . . just need . . . to check she's okay, that she is still breathing. I can't help it!"

Sam wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I understand. During my first night with her I didn't sleep, I just cuddled her all the time. I couldn't take my eyes off her. I love her so much and I love you too."

"I love you too, Sam."

o-O-o

**By roque872002**

"Come one Carter! Just pick one already!" Jack whined as he motioned towards the panel in front of him.

"I can't just pick one! It has to be perfect!" she argued as she gestured towards one section of the panel.

"It doesn't matter which one you pick!" he sighed. "What about this one?" he pointed to a particular tab.

"That's far too dark."

"Then this one," he suggested.

"No, that's too light," she answered as she narrowed her gaze.

"Why are you so obsessed about a shade of pink?"

"This is for Grace's room, Jack! Which we are painting, remember?"

o-O-o

**By Cairistiona**

"You are obsessed with something," stated Jack.

"Don't you think you could hide it from me."

"No, I'm not."

"What is it then, your work?"

"No, but, hmmmm, sometimes maybe yes."

"Or is it the blue Jello thing? I've never got that at all."

"No, not that. As much as I like it, I could easily eat the red one. Or green. Sometimes."

"But what about . . ."

"Jack," she knew he wouldn't stop for the rest of the evening, "Ok, you're right, I have an obsession, and that is Jack O'Neill!"

And she silenced everything else he might say with a kiss.

o-O-o

**By Scofield**

"Now, Carter! I don't want to stop at each and every corner just because you want to study in your scientific way all the houses we encounter. I will build one for you just as you imagine if you are that obsessed with having the perfect house when our little Jake is born."

"Jack, it's a girl and you know it."

"What's your point?"

"My point is that we should give HER a girl name, don't you think?"

"But I like Jake. Can't we shave her had and put her in boy clothes and of course name her Jake?"

"I really hope you're kidding."

"Just with the shaving part. Boys can wear long hair too . . ."

"Oook, so you're in that time of the month again, and you thought that I AM obsessed . . ."

o-O-o

**By Sparky She-Demon**

She was his obsession  
From the moment she walked in  
And verbally decimated Kawalsky and Feretti

She was his obsession  
Even when there were other men sniffing around  
And his eyes would turn green

Now that she was his and his alone  
They had a new obsession to share  
Their little girl

o-O-o

**By Amara D'Angeli**

"A clutch."

"Yep."

"And a manifold."

"Okay."

"A rebuilt crankshaft."

"Uh-huh."

"Jack. Are you listening?"

"Yep."

"Most likely a head gasket. And new pistons."

"Sure."

"Jack."

"Yep."

"I'm pretty sure I'll need a new merry widow. Maybe some lace panties."

"Okay."

"Jack!"

He looked up from the report in his hands. "What?"

"What did I just say?"

"We were talking about parts for your motorcycle."

"And . . ." she led.

He rolled the conversation back through and his eyes grew big and round. "A merry widow?"

"Yeah." She rolled her eyes. "It's like you're obsessed."

"Sam, it's a planet with yellow _people_!"

o-O-o

**By majorsal**

With wine glass in hand and feet propped on the table, Sam contemplated her life. Via a list. Must be organized.

Recession: the act of receding or withdrawing.

She'd withdrawn from him. Check.

Transgression: an act of transgressing; violation of law, command, etc.; sin.

She loved him and it was wrong. Check.

Depression: sadness; gloom; dejection.

Check, check, and check.

Suppression: conscious inhibition of an impulse.

Sam groaned and threw the list on the table.

After a moment of inner eye rolling, Sam leaned down to pick up the list again when her phone chimed. She grabbed the phone and saw it was him. Colonel O'Neill. Jack.

_"Hey, Carter, want to grab some lunch with me? I'm at the Subway and Starbucks corner."_

She stared at the words.

Say no. Say no. Say no.

_"Sure, I'll be there in 10."_

Obsession: the domination of one's thoughts or feelings by a persistent idea, image, desire, etc.

Check.

o-O-o

**By picardythirds**

The party was in full swing in front of the cabin. People were laughing, dancing, drinking and generally having a good time. In retrospect, Sam was glad for the decision to hold the festivities at the cabin. It allowed the . . . unusual guests more freedom to move about and enjoy themselves.

Jack watched Sam as she surveyed the scene. His own gaze travelled down to her left hand, where the cause for the celebration glinted brightly in the sunlight.

Never again would they have to hide their feelings for each other. It was finally in the open for all to see.

o-O-o

**By IamDKScully**

She pulled the baggie out of her vest examining its contents.

For a moment she just stared at it. She wanted it so badly, needed it, especially after the day they'd had. She was a junkie and it was time for her next fix.

"Carter?" He couldn't keep the whine out of his voice, "Please?"

Jack's begging only made her grin at him evilly. Slowly pulling the wrapper off of the chocolate she watched him drool with anticipation.

She took one bite and then another and another.

"C'mon, Sam. You know you love me."

It was true she did, but this wasn't love, it was obsession.

o-O-o

**By fems**

Sam's first tour had gone well and Jack had decided her leave should start at the cabin. They had arrived yesterday and today's purpose was to relax, maybe get some fishing in and enjoy the summer.

Jack plopped down on the grass at her side, putting two cold beers next to her discarded bikini top. His gaze was drawn to her bare back and soon his cool fingers followed, tracing patterns on her warm skin.

"Jack . . ."

"What?"

She looked over her shoulder at his innocent tone. "You're obsessed."

"Am not," he said petulantly. "Just keeping track of your new freckles."

o-O-o

**By neverendingimagination**

Jack crossed the den to the computer. Jake lay sleeping over his shoulder. If he tried to put him down he woke and complained loudly. It was easier to hold him until he was in a deep sleep.

He flicked the mouse and scrolled through the folder of photos.

Jake in the bath; Jake in the bath with his blue boat, red fish, green octopus, yellow fish, orange shell; Jake smiling in the bath; Jake with bubbles on his head; Jake looking at his boat; Jake holding up his octopus; Jake banging his fish together.

Jack sighed and closed the folder.

o-O-o

**By Major Ryan**

"She's compact, fully ambidextrous."

"Well HE has the ability to affect animated and inanimate objects."

"So does she!"

"He has been developed over several thousand years."

"Mine got it right first time."

"Multiple settings?"

"Yep."

"Only on how you target."

"Yes, well there is that."

"Both are equally up for the job, if one should falter, the other is quick to respond. Agree? Jack?"

"Sling attachment."

"Jack."

"Chromed lined"

"Jack!"

"Tritium module wi . . ."

Suddenly he is cut of by the stunning blast from Carter's zat.

He slowly comes round on his feet.

"You shot me!"

"Stunned you Sir. What can I say? You're obsessed."

o-O-o

**By JodyTAZ**

Sam slowly pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. She stopped and looked up into the night sky, spotting Orion, the Big Dipper and other constellations without giving them a second thought. She thought about all of the alien skies and constellations she had gazed upon.

She quietly and efficiently climbed the stairs to the widow's walk on their home. She paused at the top and saw Jack looking through the telescope, gazing upon the starry night.

He looked up, over at Sam and smiled. He motioned her over, swept her into a hug dropping a kiss on her lips.

They both turned toward to telescope to continue their stargazing. It was this obsession of theirs that brought them together all those many years ago.

o-O-o

**By Starship Trooper**

Daniel knew exactly where to find them.

He made his way down the hall and came to a slow stop just outside the doorway to her lab.

Sam sat hunched over her laptop, brow furrowed in concentration as she tapped away furiously at the keys. No doubt she was on the cusp of some scientific breakthrough . . . _again_.

Jack was perched on a stool, a similar expression on his face. Except that _he _was trying to master that yo-yo trick that looked like a swing. Rock the cradle? Was that it?

Daniel took a small step forward, shoved his hands down into his pockets and shifted a bit of his weight against the doorframe. Neither of them seemed to noticed him, or if they had they had no intention of letting him know it. That would spoil their game.

He loved watching his two friends like this, and it had made him forget what he'd wanted to talk to them about. They both seemed so engrossed with their respective activities, but to Daniel they looked . . . whole . . . complete.

There was a pattern to them, like a circle. No. Like a yin yang. Yes, that was it. He could see it. And he could tell by their body language - the way Sam's head was tilted just so, the way Jack's body leaned towards her - that they weren't really obsessed with what they were _doing_.

Nope, Daniel wasn't going to spoil this little game . . . even if he was being ignored.

o-O-o

**By A. Karswyll**

Sam was aware throughout the day as she spoke, laughed, and smiled with family and friends of the weight of the wedding band now worn on her finger. She couldn't help obsessively touching it either, whether a rub from her thumb beneath or the fingers of her other hand reading the shape of the stones on top.

It was not an obtrusive weight, like a shackle, but a like warm hug that was as golden as it was. And each touch was an anchor in reality that she almost couldn't believe had finally come true—she and Jack were married.

o-O-o

**By hlndncr**

The first moment Sam walks into the briefing room and sasses Jack you can see the sparks ignite.

You don't even know them but you adore them already.

Year after year the tension builds, searing looks and glancing touches.

Every moment Sam and Jack are near is electric.

The angst, the unfilled desire, the honor that makes them admirable and miserable pulls at your heart.

Jack kisses Sam in a time loop and you cheer.

Sam kisses Jack in her mind and you watch it over and over and over.

Jack promises Sam "always."

Sam lets you know she's "not exactly" single.

Then there's the dream you'll never let go.

One day we will see and the world will know . . .

They are SO MARRIED!

Sam and Jack are a beautiful obsession.


End file.
